Sudanese people walk with belongings after crossing the border from Sudan, Abu Simbel, southern Egypt, on May 18, 2023. On Monday, the United Nations called for global action and $6 billion to fight famine in the war-torn country where "civilians are paying the highest price." File Photo by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA-EFE
Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The United Nations called for global action Monday and $6 billion to fight famine and sexual violence in war-torn Sudan where "civilians are paying the highest price" following nearly two years of conflict.
"Sudan is a humanitarian emergency of shocking proportions," Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said Monday during a speech in Geneva. "Civilians are paying the highest price, shelling, airstrikes are continuing unabated, killing and injuring civilians, damaging and destroying critical infrastructure, including hospitals."
The billions in funding for this year's humanitarian and refugee response would provide assistance to nearly 26 million people in and around Sudan. U.N. Humanitarian Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the "life-saving support" would help approximately 21 million people inside of Sudan and up to 5 million people displaced across its borders, according to a post on X.
The U.N. World Food Program said Monday that famine has been confirmed in more than 10 locations in Sudan, with another 17 areas on the brink of famine.
WFP executive director Cindy McCain told the Geneva meeting in a video link that the situation has turned into a "collective failure that shames the global community."
"The civil war has killed thousands, uprooted millions and set the country ablaze, and yet it's forgotten," McCain said. It is "the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."
"Social systems, health systems, education -- kids haven't gone to school and almost 13 million people are displaced," Fletcher added. "The collapse of the education system has compounded the risks faced by Sudanese girls: child marriage, gender-based violence."
Shaza Ahmed, executive director of Nada El Azhar -- who is a gender-based violence coordinator in Sudan -- said "women and girls paid a hefty price, as GBV is used as a weapon of war."
While last year's appeal provided $1.8 billion for food, water and shelter to more than 15.6 million people across Sudan, this year's "catastrophic hunger is expected to worsen by May when the lean season begins," according to the OCHA, as decimated agricultural production from the conflict has driven up food prices by 500% in some areas.
"Famine is taking hold. An epidemic of sexual violence rages. Children are being killed and injured. The suffering is appalling," Fletcher said. "But our plan is a lifeline to millions."
